[MUSIC PLAYING]

JOHN WHYTE: Welcome, everyone.

I'm Dr. John Whyte, Chief

Medical Officer at WebMD,

and you're watching Coronavirus

in Context.

We've been talking all day

about vaccines.

Well remember, vaccines don't

work if people don't take them.

And there's some hesitancy

among different communities

about the vaccine.

So to help provide

some insights,

I've asked my friend, Dr. Sharon

Allison-Ottey, the Executive

Director of the COSHAR Healthy

Communities Foundation.

Dr. Allison-Ottey, thanks

for joining me.

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: Thank you

for having me.

Really love the work that you're

doing.

JOHN WHYTE: Let's get right

at it.

You've been talking

about vaccine hesitancy,

particularly in communities

of color.

Can you talk about what

your latest research is showing?

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: Well,

we have conducted the largest

study of particularly

African-American/Blacks in this

country on COVID attitudes,

but also the vaccine.

And it really was very alarming,

with over 94%, and we'd surveyed

about 3,100 validated studies

in a scientific manner,

saying I don't want the vaccine,

or I may or may not take

the vaccine, et cetera.

And that, as a person that's

worked in health disparities

now for decades,

is so troubling to me.

We have a flu vaccine campaign,

HPV vaccine, all

of these vaccine campaigns.

And now, with the greatest

pandemic of certainly

my lifetime, this community

needs to jump on board.

JOHN WHYTE: What's

so frustrating, I would imagine,

here we have a disease,

COVID-19, that

is disproportionately impacting

people of color.

We have a vaccine strategy

to protect people,

yet those that are most at risk

are saying, hey, wait.

I want more information.

What more information do folks

need?

Help us think it through in how

we can get more people on board.

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: There must

be information from trusted

resources.

And that's why,

at the foundation,

we are engaging our churches,

our community leaders, certainly

social and civic leaders to say,

hey, this is safe.

But also, we are highlighting

what you and I both have talked

about for decades, that for one

of the first times in history,

the most diverse panel

of clinical trial participants

are in this trial.

And after all of that work,

saying that this has been tested

in people that look like you

to a larger degree,

this is safe,

but more importantly, you could

save a life, that has to be

communicated.

And we need to break it down

to the basics.

Vaccines save lives.

We're in a pandemic.

You not only want to protect

yourself, you want to protect

your grandmother, your mother,

your kids,

your whole entire family,

and we must do this as a nation.

JOHN WHYTE: Are you seeing

generational issues?

When I talk to older patients,

people of color, they'll

talk about Tuskegee

and mention it.

But when you talk about Tuskegee

to a younger population, they'll

think you're talking

about the Airmen.

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: That's

right.

JOHN WHYTE: They're not--

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: It's bad.

It's bad.

JOHN WHYTE: --really aware--

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: Learned

this in school.

JOHN WHYTE: --of the issues

around syphilis.

Right.

So what are

the generational issues we're

seeing in terms of vaccine

confidence and vaccine

acceptance?

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: You know,

I've always liked to keep it

straight, and I keep it straight

when I talk to anyone.

When we go back to the Tuskegee

Experiment, and unfortunately,

I've seen a lot of misnomers

and misinformation

even about that, as it's now

coming back to the forefront,

but this generation

and the millennials and even

younger generations,

they talk about just distrust

of government.

That it's too fast, and we're

going to be guinea pigs and all

of that, and why do I want

to inject something foreign

into my body?

Now, mind you, as I keep it real

all the time,

this same generation will say,

I don't want to inject anything

or smo-- take anything.

But we have legalized pot.

We have the chicken sandwich

with the 1,000 calories.

We have processed food and all

of that.

And I break it down honestly,

John, to that level,

and say, wait a minute.

Well, if that's the case,

are you following this

in every aspect of your life?

And the other part that

is hitting home

with particularly my 20-

and 30-year-olds,

and I just did

a webinar recently,

is when I go over and say,

this is what a clinical trial

is.

This is what had to happen.

And these are the structures

by which a vaccine can come

through.

Not one person, but panels

and panels of persons

and the safety issue.

JOHN WHYTE: Tell us how you,

as a woman of color,

not as a doctor, but a woman

of color, a mom,

is evaluating the risk

versus benefit in terms of

whether or not you're going

to get the vaccine.

Can you walk us

through that calculation

that you personally are making,

that our viewers can relate to?

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY:

The biggest thing I can say

to anyone is, I have

an 80-year-old mother, soon

to be 81.

And she asked me well, what

about this vaccine?

I said, mommy, the first date

it's available that I can get

you in--

JOHN WHYTE: Why?

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: --you're

getting vaccinated.

JOHN WHYTE: Why?

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: Why?

Because my mother is 80 years

old with some hypertension

in North Carolina,

where there is

iffy mask-wearing, major health

problems as far as perceptions

about the virus,

and I want to protect her

at all costs.

It's the same reason I wasn't

there at Thanksgiving

or Christmas

or any of the major holidays.

I want to protect her.

Why is it important?

We are in the greatest crisis

of our lifetime.

What can we do?

We know we can do the things

that we talk about, but now, we

have another tool

in the toolbox.

For me, making those decisions

is easy because I read the data.

I am very adept to understanding

the clinical trial.

But also, I am a voice,

fortunately, for this country

that is trusted, that can say

no.

This is safe,

and this is something we must

do.

JOHN WHYTE: What's been striking

about the data?

Is it the number of people,

the outcomes,

the numerous studies?

What's particularly struck you

about the data?

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: If we talk

about the Pfizer,

Moderna vaccine.

94%, above 90%

of any vaccination

having efficacy rates.

You and I both know that is

off the charts.

The efficacy data is what has

sold me.

JOHN WHYTE: What happens,

Sharon, if we have

a large percentage of Caucasians

being vaccinated

and then a very small percentage

of people of color?

And we still have a lot of virus

around.

What's the outcome there?

We know what it is.

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: We know

what it is.

And again, for you have done

a lot of work

in health disparities,

I've done a lot of work

in health disparities,

certain organizations

that I'm part of

and other influential persons,

it is heartbreaking to me

that after all of this time

saying, we are at risk more.

Get to the front of the line.

Get to-- finally you're

at the front of the line,

and you say, I'm skeptical.

I don't want to be at the front

of the line, necessarily.

I want to see how this works

out.

And as a result, our parents,

our grandparents, our families

suffer more because of hesitancy

when we don't see this hesitancy

in other areas of our lives.

And so I am really--

and the foundation has

a national campaign going

full-fledged to say vaccines

save lives.

Not only do it for yourself,

but do it for your family

and so that we can get some

of these restrictions lifted.

You can't complain

about the restrictions

and sit at home

and chant Kumbayah saying,

I'm going to wait on something

else

or take an herb to try

to protect myself.

JOHN WHYTE: One of the things

we've been talking

about on this show

is the low number of people

of color in medical school

to become physicians

and other health professions.

Can we take a moment

and hear about your journey

into medical school and becoming

a physician?

Was it something that you had

always dreamed of?

Was it something you saw

in other family members?

What has been Dr. Sharon

Allison-Ottey's pathway

and journey to medicine?

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: I have

a cute, quick story.

My father, God rest his soul,

we had in our hallway all

the Britannicas,

and people don't even know

about them.

JOHN WHYTE: Encyclopedias.

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: But all

displayed--

JOHN WHYTE: They don't know.

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: They don't

know.

And I was always kind of nerdy

and reading them.

And as a young girl,

I had issues with fainting

and feeling lightheaded.

And I'm talking about

before being 10 years old,

about 6 to 7.

So I had a relationship with Dr.

Baker, my local pediatrician

in my small town of Kannapolis,

North Carolina.

Dr. Baker was

a Caucasian younger man, now

I see it as younger, that was

a great pediatrician that I

secretly probably had

a little crush on.

And I just was fascinated.

And I would go in for tests

and all this.

And at the time,

I remember once he said,

well, this could be sickle cell

anemia.

And my little smart self went

and got the Brittanica out

and looked up sickle cell

and the time.

You died by the time you were

20.

And I come from a faith family,

so I was praying to God,

asking for forgiveness for all

the evil I'd done

to my brothers,

and eating liver, thinking

that I could overcome this.

And fortunately, I did not have

sickle cell.

But that started it.

My daddy would say that he

bought me a huge ABC book,

and A was for apple

and Adam, a bunch of stuff,

and D was for dog, doctor.

And I looked at it

and said, doctor, like Dr.

Baker.

That's what I'm going to be.

I've never known that I wanted

to be anything else.

But he used to tell that story.

And I was about seven when he

told that story.

JOHN WHYTE: And did you face

struggles, bias, discrimination

along the way?

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: Oh,

definitely.

I am from small town Kannapolis,

North Carolina, which I love.

But I remember on career day,

and I've talked

about this publicly, on career

day, I was always

in advanced classes and all

of that, which meant that there

was one Black girl and one

Black boy in the advanced

classes.

And we were on an accelerated

path.

And I remember for career day

standing up

with my great presentation

saying,

I'm going to be a doctor.

And I remember one

of my classmates

who was my friend said, well no.

You can't be a doctor.

My daddy says, and she said

the n-word, can't be doctors.

And I was crushed for about two

seconds until I went home.

My dad got off work,

and I was so sad,

and I said, daddy, this is

what--

and he came in in his usual way

and said, prove her wrong.

Why are you upset?

Prove her wrong.

And fortunately, 20 years later,

I did.

JOHN WHYTE: You did.

You did just that.

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: Cool.

JOHN WHYTE: Proved her wrong.

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: I proved

her wrong and got an award

for being the most successful

high school grad-- blah blah,

blah.

And I remember her telling

people we were best friends.

JOHN WHYTE: What

a terrific story.

What final words

do you want to leave our viewers

to give them maybe a little more

confidence in vaccination

for COVID?

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY:

Vaccinations across the board

work.

So we want you to be vaccinated.

And we know African-Americans

have lower vaccination rates

in everything, tetanus boost,

HPV, flu, all of that.

But now, as we face this crisis,

I want to say that we must trust

the scientists and the doctors.

Trust resources

in your community.

Trust national spokespersons.

Trust organizations that

represent people as well as

doctors.

And as we look

at frontline workers,

do you think that mom that

is a physician that may be

an MD, PhD that has a family

member,

do you think she's going to sit

down and take a vaccine

and risk her family?

Risk their health?

And so follow their lead,

and talk to your physician

or someone you trust.

And then you become

a spokesperson.

We know that in minority

communities

it takes word of mouth

in particular.

And I did it.

I'm fine.

You do it, you'll be fine,

so that we can get

the protection we need.

This is not just something

political.

It's not political at all.

It's about your health

and your wellness

and the wellness of this nation.

It's your duty to protect,

to wear a mask,

to follow the guidelines,

but also your duty to protect

your fellow man.

And we do that

with vaccinations.

JOHN WHYTE: Protect our fellow

men and women.

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: And women.

JOHN WHYTE: Well, thank you, Dr.

Sharon Allison-Ottey,

for your insights

today, for all that you're doing

to promote health

and eliminate disparities

across the board,

not just as it relates to COVID,

but something that you and I

have been talking about for 20

years.

Appreciate your insights today.

SHARON ALLISON-OTTEY: Thank you.

JOHN WHYTE: And if you have

questions about COVID-19,

and we want your questions,

we want you to ask questions,

send them our way.

You can send them

to drjohn@webmd.net as well as

post on our social properties,

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,

and Pinterest.

Thanks for watching.